Need-supportive digital sports platform and physical activity outcomes in university physical education: an intact-class quasi-experimental study based on self-determination theory.

INTRODUCTION

Digital platforms are increasingly used in university physical education (PE), but the psychological pathways associated with platform-supported PE remain insufficiently understood. Because individual random assignment was not feasible in the authentic educational setting, this study examined post-intervention group differences and self-determination theory (SDT)-consistent associations, distinguishing need satisfaction from need frustration.

METHODS

An 8-week post-intervention intact-class quasi-experimental study was conducted in eight university table tennis classes. The final sample included 393 first- and second-year undergraduate students aged 18-21 years (control group, n = 191; platform-supported group, n = 202); exact individual age was not collected. The platform-supported group used a digital-intelligent sports platform providing course learning, training assistance, competition organization, peer interaction, and achievement feedback, whereas the control group received regular PE instruction. Outcomes included basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration, self-reported physical activity, perceived exercise persistence, self-rated PE performance, perceived change in exercise frequency, and daily sitting time. Robustness analyses included class-clustered standard errors, wild cluster bootstrap tests, false discovery rate correction, and propensity score weighting.

RESULTS

The platform-supported group reported higher need satisfaction, lower need frustration, higher log-transformed physical activity, greater perceived exercise persistence, higher self-rated PE performance, more favorable perceived change in exercise frequency, and lower daily sitting time. Cross-sectional indirect-association models showed SDT-consistent pathways through increased need satisfaction and/or reduced need frustration. The direction of the primary findings remained consistent in the supplementary sensitivity analyses.

DISCUSSION: Platform-supported PE may be understood as a motivational environment rather than merely a technological tool. However, because of non-random allocation, baseline imbalance, reliance on self-report outcomes, absence of complete pretests, and lack of objective individual-level platform usage logs, the findings should be interpreted as post-intervention group differences and cross-sectional associations rather than causal intervention effects.